Institution

Current Position

Highest Degree

After receiving my Ph.D. from Leuven University, I became a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Experimental Psychology and Wolfson College of Oxford University (U.K.). In 1991, I was appointed as an Assistant Professor in Social Psychology at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). In 1993 I moved to Tilburg University (The Netherlands), where I became an Associate Professor, first at the Department of Communication Psychology and later at the Department of Economic Psychology. Since 1998, I have been a Professor of Social Psychology at Leuven University (Belgium).

My current research focuses on self-favoring biases in social comparison and risk perception and communication. Self-favoring biases are erroneous or illusory perceptions of self-other differences in a self-flattering or self-serving direction. They include, among other biases, unrealistic optimism or the expectation of a better future for oneself than for others, illusory superiority or the perception of being a better and more competent person than others, and the overvaluation of own attributes. In the broad domain of self-favoring biases, I mainly focus on testing explanations and on exploring potential behavioral and social consequences. The latter point of interest forms a bridge to the domain of risk perception and communication, which I have been focused on lately.

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Hoorens, V. (1994). Unrealistic optimism in social comparison of health and safety risks. In D. Rutter (Ed.), The social psychology of health and safety: European perspectives (pp. 153-174). Avesbury: Aldershot.